Crash into power pole blocks Hayes Road near Woodland

Northeast Hayes Road east of Woodland was closed for hours as crews worked to remove downed electrical lines knocked into the road when a car slammed into a power pole Wednesday afternoon.

Clark County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Dawdy said firefighters received word around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday of a single-car crash in which a car went into a power pole on Hayes Road near Polar Avenue.

A young man driving a car apparently went off the road and “hit that pole solid,” Dawdy said, “shearing it off its base and causing it to land in the roadway.”

Arriving firefighters encountered multiple downed power lines between them and the car, Dawdy said. Another crew was able to approach the scene from Northeast Jenny Creek Road/21st Avenue and access the car, which had flipped on its side.

The man driving was able to climb out on his own and was relatively unscathed, Dawdy said, but information about the driver’s condition, or whether he was taken to a hospital, was unavailable.

Dawdy said around 5:15 p.m. that the roadway was completely blocked as crews and Clark Public Utilities staff tried to clean up the mess. It caused power outages for nearby residents.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office was investigating the crash.

Dawdy said the driver, the car’s sole occupant, was wearing a seat belt, and the car’s air bags deployed in the crash.

“We hope that people keep their speed down and drive carefully over the summer holiday season,” he said.